Cabin Run

You can cover the 13 miles from the Salmon La Sac snopark to the end of the groomed road in about 20 minutes on a fast snowmobile! The SkiDoo Summit with an 800cc Rotax engine gets that sled to 70 mph in about 5 seconds - they're really incredible machines.

Aaron and I headed out under partly cloudy skies and were skinning up the ridgeline by 10am. The first 1000' were through the trees before you break out into some steeper and more open terrain. By about 1:00 we made the top and took a pretty steep line down. There was about 8 inches of unconsolidated snow on top of the rain crust from last weekend. It was about 25 degrees, so light snow for Washington. We managed to get two great runs in before heading back to the bottom.

Image posting doesn't seem to be working on Blogger, I'll try again tomorrow.

Rainy Pass - North Cascades

Best day of skiing I've had in years. 2 feet of fresh powder that had fallen in temperatures of between 20 and 25 degrees, low avalanche danger because of the early season snowpack and a group of 5 friends to enjoy it with.

We headed out from Seattle at 6am and were surprised to see it snowing hard on the North Cascades Highway, as the forecast was for snow to come in the afternoon. From the parking area, we skinned up a well-worn track to the pass, and started with a run down the back. Wow. You don't get face shots and cold-smoke powder very often in Washington, but we had it in spades on Sunday. Ian and Seth took turns setting the skin track out (I helped a little, but only slowed them down). We skied another run there, then one on the front before heading down to the lake and out (in the dark, by the way).

The weather did turn cold as expected at about 2pm - first time ever I've been able to skin up with a coat on and heavy gloves and not sweat. It was about 15 degrees when we left.

Tweener season

That time of year between warm sun and skiing - too much yardwork and dare I say it - family time.

Devil's Gulch - in October?

When your place of worship is the great outdoors, it doesn't get much better than a fall ride at Devil's Gulch in Cashmere. Loern and I headed out early from Seattle on the 3rd, as it was forecast to be in the 70s east of the Cascades. We started from the lot at 10am, and it was cold and cloudy; we weren't sure what we would run into on top - 3000' above our starting elevation.

All worry was for nothing, as we had perhaps the most pristine day I've experienced out there. The fall colors were if full effect, with yellow and orange stands of maple and larch (?) greeting us throughout the ride. And not a whisper of wind was blowing - almost unheard of for that area. When we stopped near the top you could hear every bird, chipmunk and mouse conducting their business - and with the temperature reaching the forecasted high, it was absolutely perfect.

The trail was in great shape- not too dusty and only a little mud here and there. It was Loern's first time at the gulch and he did a fantastic job cleaning each river crossing and even finishing with the Red Devil trail back to the car (although that last 1000' of climbing about did him in).

Onward to ski season!!

Chikamin Creek

An overcast, misty sky greeted us as we drove over Steven's Pass toward Leavenworth early on a recent Saturday. Close to Lake Wenatchee is the Chikamin creek trail system that boasts many miles of great singletrack. Kendall and I parked at the trailhead off the Chiwawa River Road and rode the gravel road up 8 miles to the intersection of the Chikamin trail and the trail that leads left up to the Mad Lake area (the name escapes me). The bit of rain that had come down created perfect trail conditions, so the grunty little sections as we climbed up had perfect traction. It's only 4 miles to the intersection of the other trails but it climbs 1500'.

We turned around at the intersection and enjoyed some of the fastest, smoothest downhill in the state. Then after crossing the road we continued down the Chikamin creek trail, before branching left to Chikamin ridge. The ridge provides that little extra, several steep sections where you really have to dig deep at the end of the day. About 3 miles from the cutoff we headed back across the creek (and up one more steep section - which I made with a herculean effort) and back to the car. A fantastic 2.5 hour ride.

Mt. Adams

"Forget Rainier, let's go do Adams - we can even get a ride in on the way down." That was Aaron's comment Saturday morning as we looked at the forecast for Mt. Rainier: 40 mile an hour average wind speed on the summit. That, combined with the general unpleasantness of a long slog in with a heavy pack made the decision quite easy.


Mt. Adams is the much more accessible peak to the south, coming in at 12,200'. The west face provides two excellent skiing lines: the popular SW Chutes and the less travelled Avalanche Glacier.



The "ride" was a 3-hour mountain bike ride at Little Baldy in the Naches, which we did Saturday before driving to Hood River for dinner - finally making it to the Cold Springs campground at about 11:3o pm.

We started out from camp at a leisurely 8am, and made the summit by 3pm. We were able to skin almost the entire way - starting just after we reached snow about 2 miles from camp.

This is the view of the mountain as you hit the snowline on the South Summit trail.



It was a gorgeous day for skinning; bright sun and t-shirts only required. We went left of the main trail, and were able to stay on snow and take a more direct route than we would have otherwise.






Once at the summit the wind had picked up to about 20mph, and while not bad, it was enough to keep us moving. We dropped into the gap between the summit and the northern peak, and had about 2,000' of perfect corn at a nice 35-40 degree slope.














Once off the steeper section we ended beneath the SW chutes, found the Around the Mountain trail at 6,200', and walked out by 6pm. All in all a fantastic day.

The first photo below shows the route, the second is a close-up of the main ski run.

Devil's Gulch and Little Bald Mountain

Devil's Gulch, the best mountain bike ride in Washington, continues to deliver the goods this summer. The road to the main parking area is still washed out, so you have to go to the base of the Red Devil trail (past the crazy guy's collection of cars, dogs and garbage). We started on the Red Devil trail for a little 1000' warm up, then up the road 13 miles to the start of the trail proper. It was a perfect 75 degree Saturday and although we didn't start until about 3:00, there was plenty of light and it cooled as we climbed up. The trail has been well maintained and improved in the lower section, where it was deteriorating on the steep hillside.

Sunday we drove to Naches and the Little Bald Mountain ride. We parked near the Sawmill Flat campground (Hwy 410, Milepost 91), and rode up road 7106 to the trail (196?). A bit rocky to start, then some ridge riding, but some of the fastest, smoothest downhill rewards you at sections near the top and bottom. A cloudy day with the temp about 70, but dry and fast. Great views as you descend the ridge on the trail.